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Texas Football: Will the Greg Ploetz settlement change anything for the NCAA?

By Andrew Miller

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23: The entrance to the NCAA's headquarters is seen following an announcement of sanctions against Penn State University's football program on July 23, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The sanctions are a result of a report that the university concealed allegations of child sexual abuse made against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 23: The entrance to the NCAA's headquarters is seen following an announcement of sanctions against Penn State University's football program on July 23, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The sanctions are a result of a report that the university concealed allegations of child sexual abuse made against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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One storyline that might fly under the radar this off-season for Texas football is a lawsuit involving former Longhorns defensive tackle Greg Ploetz.

Texas Football was put center stage in a lawsuit involving the widow of former Longhorns player Greg Ploetz and the NCAA. This lawsuit that reached a settlement on June 15 called for damages from the NCAA for head injuries incurred by Ploetz over the course of his college career that were not described to him beforehand.

Ploetz played for Texas at defensive tackle spanning between 1968 and 1971, even winning a National Championship in one of those seasons. However, his wife Debra Hardin-Ploetz sued the NCAA for negligence and the wrongful death of her husband due to brain injuries.

After the end of Ploetz’s football career, he became a teacher and also decided to donate his brain to research after he passed. The Concussion Legacy Foundation at Boston University is where Ploetz’s brain was studied, where researchers discovered the most severe form of CTE. Ploetz had Stage 4 CTE from suffering numerous concussions during his football career.

The NCAA set aside a $70 million trust fund to settle brain injuries like this, and also invested $30 million into study done by the US Defense Department to move these type of proceedings along. The $30 million study started back in May 2014 and continued on for three years.

All of these steps the NCAA took to resolve these head injuries and long-term brain damage do seem a bit overdue. However, it’s good that the NCAA is at least doing something to take care of this issue. The lawsuits over brain injuries would continue anyway for them so some type of progress in this regard is needed.

The NFL has issues with concussions too, so changes to things like concussion protocol and equipment seemed around the corner anyway at both the college and professional levels. The fact of the matter is that both the NFL and NCAA have a lot of pressure on them at this moment to take some type of action to further prevent these types of injuries heading into the future.

For being a lawsuit from a player that played around 50 years ago, this should really have a big impact on the NCAA. Considering the circumstances, the NCAA has taken at least a little bit of action to manage head injuries in the game today. Debra Hardin-Ploetz looked to have the current athletes in mind while bringing about this lawsuit.

Next: Projected 2-deep depth chart for the Longhorns in 2018

Whether this individual case and settlement will have any major impact on the NCAA heading into the future, it signals a current trend with brain injuries. Further development and research are what the NCAA and NFL should continue to rely on to keep making progress to further prevent these type of injuries. This lawsuit will make an impact to some degree.

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